Abstract The development of modern sport is bound up with processes of economic and

cultural transformation associated with the global diffusion of capitalist forms of

consumption. In this article I draw attention to aspects of the globalization of modern sport
that were becoming apparent towards the close of the nineteenth century and then move on to
consider the factors that contributed to sport becoming a truly global phenomenon in the
course of the twentieth century. Consideration is given to the development of international
sport and sports goods companies, the growth in media interest and the increasing
significance of sponsorship, consumer culture and sporting celebrities. The global diffusion of
modern sport that gathered momentum in the course of the twentieth century involved a
number of networked elements, including transnational communications media and
commercial corporations for which sport, especially through the iconic figure of the
transnational celebrity sport star, constitutes a universally appealing globally networked
cultural form. Association with sport events and sporting figures through global broadcasting,
sponsorship and endorsement arrangements offers commercial corporations unique access to
global consumer culture.